Cardiff, 2008
by LexieBird
Summary: Rose and the Doctor need to refuel in Cardiff, and they bump into an old friend. Jack, Rose and the Tenth Doctor. No funny business.


Rose stood from the chair she was sitting on, having just finished the last of her tea. She walked through the long, winding corridors of the TARDIS until she finally reached the console room. The Doctor was working under the console, babbling on to himself about something. Rose contented herself to listening for a while, until she couldn't stand it any longer and giggled. Rose heard a thud, followed by a curse in a language that the TARDIS refused to translate. He poked his head out, brainy specks half falling off his nose, hair sticking up in all directions.  
"Rose?" He carefully crawled out from under the console, stood up, and gave her a stern look. "Don't sneak up on me like that," he told her, "I might've been doing something important, and then where would we be?"  
"You mean what you were doing then _wasn't _important?" She asked sweetly.  
"Of course it was!" He replied, annoyed that she'd caught him. "I mean, it just wasn't end-of-the-universe important. You know." He finished lamely, trying to ignore Rose's snickering. "Anyway," he began again, "it was important, because now we need to go to Cardiff."  
"She out of fuel already?" Rose asked, patting one of the coral-like pillar concernedly. Suddenly, her eyes narrowed. "You weren't doing something down there that drained all her power, were you?"  
"No!" Replied the Doctor, but then bit his lip. "Well, not intentionally. Don't look at me like that, I was trying to make her more efficient! So we'd have to go to Cardiff even less often! And then I accidentally, kinda, drained all her power." He said, the last four words coming out in a rush that Rose just managed to catch. "Tell you what," he said, beginning to fiddle with the TARDIS controls, "I'll take you to Cardiff in the future. Say, the year three-thousand or so? Maybe even four-thousand? Then we can still have some fun." His eyes glinted excitedly, and Rose found it infectious.  
"Oh, okay." She conceded. "But you'd better not mess up and land us in 2007 or something." She warned, and went off to her room to change.

The Doctor opened the doors of the TARDIS with a flourish, grinning. As soon as he did, however, the grin slipped from his face and he ran his hand through his hair.  
"Oh, Rose is going to kill me." He muttered, then quickly went to go back inside the TARDIS - maybe he could get away with moving it, before she noticed. Instead, he almost ran straight into her. She took in his expresion and narrowed her eyes. The Doctor grinned nervously. "You know what, we don't need more fuel! We'll go on another trip, then-"  
"Doctor," interrupted Rose, "did you mess up the coordinates?" She asked, then pushed past him. She turned on him. "Is this 2007?" She asked, taking in the rather boring Cardiff street. The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck.  
"No! No, no it's not." He said firmly. Rose raised her eyebrows, and the Doctor sighed, defeated. "It's 2008." He admitted. Rose sighed.  
"Oh well. Knowing your luck we'll probably end up with an alien invasion anyways. I'll go get my bag, then we'll go get chips, okay?" The Doctor grinned in response, and Rose made her way back into the TARDIS. Why she trusted this man with her life, she'd never know.

Meanwhile, outside, the Doctor was enjoying what was, on the whole, a not-bad Cardiff afternoon. His time-sense told him that it was precisely lunch time, perfect for chips. He then spotted vaguely familiar figure walking past in the distance. The figure stopped and turned to look in his direction, before walking toward him, then running. The Doctor was debating whether he should get back in the TARDIS or not, when he noticed two things at the exact same moment.

One, that he knew the man running toward him. And two, that man was very, _very _wrong.

* * *

If it wasn't for the fact that he recognised the time anomaly running toward him, the Doctor would've gotten back in the TARDIS then and there. Really though, he wasn't _wrong _so much as not right, and the Doctor knew that it was more of a culture shock - the same way a human might think an angry-looking alien sludge ball was wrong and scary and evil, whereas it was actually quite nice and docile.

But it was a culture shock for a _Timelord_, who practically invented the term (bigger on the inside gained many, many odd reactions), so the Doctor decided that, as one of the (if not the most) intelligent and well-traveled being in the universe, that if it was a culture shock for _him, _it was a culture shock for everybody - which essentially made it wrong.

Besides, he just couldn't get over centuries of Timelord teachings. Facts just weren't meant to happen. This was one of those rare moments that not having the Timelords around was a good thing - the anomaly would've been destroyed on the spot.

"Doctor!" Called the man. The Doctor sighed.  
"Hey Jack," He replied, once Jack had reached him. "What are you doing on Earth? In the twenty-first century? In fact, what are you doing at all?"  
"Oh, you know. Hanging out. Making sure this rift doesn't do too much damage." He said casually.  
"Jack," said the Doctor uncertainly, "do you know that you're.. well," The Doctor was cut off halfway through his sentence by Rose's voice coming through the slightly ajar door of the TARDIS.  
"Doctor!" She called. "Do you know where my-" There was a pause. "Oh, never mind, I found it!" Jack's mouth was wide open, and he stared at the Doctor, shocked.  
"Was that... Was that _Rose?_" He managed. He looked like he was part impressed, part overjoyed, part confused, and a large part very concerned.  
"'Course it was. Who else would it be?" The Doctor said, as Rose poked her head out the TARDIS doors.  
"Hey, who you talking to?" She asked, then saw for herself. "Oh my God, Jack! You're okay! I thought... I thought you'd died..." She said, rushing over to Jack and hugging him. Jack looked like he was going to say something, but then thought better of it.  
"I get it now." He said quietly. "Oh, Rose, it's _so _good to see you too!" He said, hugging her back - but in a completely friendly way, like a brother would. "And it's good to see you, Doctor, the way you are, but I have to go now. See, I met you not long ago - but not yet. Don't want the timelines getting all mixed, do we?" He smiled sadly at the two of them. "You guys just enjoy yourselves. And be careful." He added. The Doctor turned to Rose.  
"You go ahead and find a place with good chips. I've just got to set up the TARDIS." He told her. She knew that wasn't all he wanted to do, but she didn't argue. Once she had left, the Doctor stared at Jack - or rather, at a spot next to Jack, then at Jack again, then not at Jack...  
"You'll see me 'round, Doctor." Jack, said, turning to leave.  
"Jack." Jack stopped, and turned to face him. "You know you're... not... quite right?" He asked carefully. Jack grinned.  
"Yeah, you told me, not the last time I met you but the time before." He said. "And you told me last time too. Oh, the terrible time anomaly who can't die."  
"Can't die?" Choked the Doctor, shocked.  
"Ohh. I did wonder how you already knew that. Sorry."  
"Jack, if anything, I should be apologising to you-" Jack held up his hands.  
"Shut up. I've had this conversation with you before, and you will have it with me." He sighed. "The life of a time traveller." The Doctor smiled slightly.  
"I do have to set up the TARDIS, though. I'll look forward to seeing you, Captain."  
"And I you." He replied, with a slight salute. The Doctor cringed, then walked back into the TARDIS, the door swinging shut behind him. Just as he did so, Rose appeared, grinning.  
"Hey, Jack. I 'spose you can't have chips with us, can you?" She said, hoping that he could.  
"Nah, sorry. Might let something slip." He winked at her. "But Rose," he said, leaning in suddenly and grabbing her arm, "you won't be lost. Just do me a favour, and remember that you find him. Hold on to that." He said sadly. "Hold on to that." He repeated. Rose frowned as Jack began to walk away.  
"Find who, Jack! Who? Jack!" She stopped, realising that he wasn't going to turn. "Jack." She whispered. The TARDIS doors opened, and the Doctor popped his head out.  
"Oh, Jack's gone now, is he? C'mon then, did you find some good chips?" Rose considered telling him about what Jack had said, but there was something about Jack's eyes when he said that, something about the way his voice trembled and the way he gripped her arm slightly too tight, that made her decide against it.  
"Yep. And maybe this'll teach you to stop trying to improve the TARDIS! Next time, she'll explode or something!" As they walked off, the Doctor launched into a detailed explanation about how he wasn't trying to improve the TARDIS, but rather get her working properly again, and that the likelihood of her exploding was so minimal, and that it'd need something very intelligent, powerful, old and specifically in-tune with the TARDIS to make it explode, even if it was trying to.

* * *

_Hey! Jack Jack Jack Jack, ohhh Jack. I didn't put any innuendos. I should've; it is Jack we're talking about here.  
But then again he wasn't exactly expecting Rose, was he? _

_REVIEW! :D_


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